The present invention relates to a forward recumbent posture pod for supporting the anterior torso of a person resting therein while permitting unrestricted movement of the person's arms, legs and head, and more particularly, to a forward recumbent posture RP for infants during the first year of life.
Full-term newborn infants generally have well developed posterior muscles of the neck and trunk. However, newborn infants generally have weak anterior neck muscles, and if lying or held supine with its face up, is unable to lift its head. A newborn infant left in the supine position is relatively helpless, only able to move its arms and legs and unable to view the world around it. Newborn infants left in this position tend to grow irritable and restless.
In contrast, a full-term newborn infant that is seated or being held with his or her torso supported and forwardly inclined is able to lift and support its head, and turn its head from side-to-side to look about. Infants supported in this forward recumbent position are able to move their bodies in a swimming motion and intake the sensory stimulation surrounding it such as their mother's voices. Infants so positioned tend to find this posture highly pleasurable, and are far less likely to be irritable and restless.
Conventional infant seats, exercisers, and swings are not designed to recognize the limited development of a baby's anterior neck muscles or to take advantage of the baby's strong posterior neck and trunk muscles. Typical infant seats support a baby reclined backwards in a semi-supine position, while infant swings and exercisers tend to support an infant in an upright or semi-reclined position.
One conventional configuration of an infant exercise seat is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,528,657, issued to Krupsky, which discloses an infant swing wherein the infant is seated with its back vertically upright, or alternately, in a fully supine reclined position.
An alternate conventional configuration that provides anterior support for a person resting in a semi-inclined recumbent position is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,104, issued to Carstensen. The body support disclosed in that patent provides an inclined board upon which a person rests his or her full frontal body. However, depending on the board's configuration, the support does not allow free movement of the legs, or at most provides for movement of the legs only as a means of propelling the support board when mounted as a mobile walker. In addition, the arms and head rest upon slanted board surfaces that restrict their free downward movement. Further, such a board would be unsafe for young infants as the infants are not restrained from sliding off the board sideways or from falling off the board backwards as a result of back arching.